Prince Oskar of Prussia

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Prince Oskar of Prussia : biography

27 July 1888 – 27 January 1958

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Prince Oskar of Prussia (Oskar Karl Gustav Adolf) (27 July 1888 in Potsdam, Germany – 27 January 1958 in Munich, Germany) was the fifth son of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein.

Ancestry

Biography

Education

Prinz Oskar was educated as a cadet at Plön, in his mother’s ancestral Schleswig-Holstein, as his brothers had been before him. He made the news in 1902 when he fractured his collar bone after a fall from the horizontal bars.“Kaiser’s Fifth Son Hurt.” New York Times. December 9, 1902.

Military career

During the early months of the First World War, he commanded Grenadierregiment "Konig Wilhelm I." (2. Westpreussisches) Nr. 7 in the field as its colonel. Future fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen witnessed the August 22, 1914, attack on Virton, Belgium, and wrote of Prinz Oskar’s bravery and his inspirational leadership at the front of his regiment as they went into combat.Kilduff, Peter. The Life and Death of an Ace. Cincinnati, OH: David & Charles, LTD., 2007. p. 34. http://books.google.com/books?id=6PUqdW7QdU4C&pg=PA34&dq=richthofen+prince+oskar+Virton&hl=en&ei=fYYaTKvQKsP9nQef98S5Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false For this action, Oskar earned the Iron Cross, Second Class."Kaiser Decorates 2 Sons for Bravery." New York Times. August 26, 1914. A month later, at Verdun, Oskar again led his men in a successful assault into heavy combat, and was awarded the Iron Cross, First Class. After this action, he also collapsed and had to be removed from the field."Von Der Horst Killed Leading His Troops." New York Times. October 3, 1914. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9D0CEFD81638E633A25750C0A9669D946596D6CF Awarded the wound badge for his injuries, he spent much of the fall of 1914 recovering from what was reported to be a heart condition. He eventually returned to duty and served on the Eastern Front, where he was again awarded the wound badge."Kaiser’s Son Oscar is Wounded Again." New York Times. February 8, 1916. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B07E5DA103FE233A2575BC0A9649C946796D6CF

In the early 1920s, his name was listed with other members of the general staff or the royal family accused of war crimes, and was condemned in the Press for applying for a colonel’s pension from the Weimar Republic.“Princes Seek Pensions.” New York Times (reprinted from Chicago Tribune), August 20, 1922.

During the 1930s, when the Hohenzollern family attempted to test the waters for a return to power through Nationalist Socialism, Oskar appears to have played along, and eventually was commissioned at Generalmajor zur Verfügung (rank equivalent to brigadier general, "available for assignment"), circa March 1, 1940. As it became more evident that there would be no restoration of the monarchy through the Nazis, the family began to fall out of favor with Hitler, with the exception of Oskar’s middle brother, August Wilhelm.

With the early battlefield deaths of Oskar’s son (also named Oskar, killed in Poland, September 1939) and his nephew (Wilhelm, son of the Crown Prince, died of wounds received in France, March 1940) the German people harbored a newfound sentiment for the royal family amidst the totalitarian regime that was Nazi Germany. As a consequence, the majority of royals serving in the German Armed Forces appear to have had their commissions canceled, including Prinz Oskar. Though August Wilhelm remained loyal to Hitler and former Crown Prince Wilhelm remained complacently neutral, Oskar and his other surviving brothers, Eitel Friedrich and Adalbert, became anti-Nazis.

Master of Knights, Protestant Order of Saint John

The Johanniterorden (The Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg)) was a favorite of the Hohenzollerns, historically, and of Prinz Oskar’s immediate family in specific. His father and uncle were members, and his brother, Eitel Friedrich, served as its Master of Knights (Herrenmeister), from 1907 to 1926. Prinz Oskar served as the thirty-fifth Master of Knights Robert M. Clark, Jr., The Evangelical Knights of Saint John; Dallas, Texas: 2003; pp. 41-53, 111. from Eitel Friedrich’s resignation in 1926 until his death in 1958. Modern historians credit Prinz Oskar for saving the ancient order from oblivion during the cultural purges of the Nazi regime. It is from this struggle that he held his anti-Nazi sentiments. After his death in 1958, his youngest son, Prinz Wilhelm Karl, became his permanent successor. Prinz Oskar’s grandson and namesake, Dr. Oskar Hohenzollern, Prince of Prussia, is the current (thirty-seventh) Master of Knights.